Posts Tagged ‘don 2’

MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; December 10, 2009)

Life has come a full circle for former Miss World Priyanka Chopra. On December 12, nine years after she picked up her own crown, PC will be on the beauty pageant podium in Johannesburg as a judge for the final round of this year’s Miss World contest. “When Julia Morley, who is in charge of the beauty pageant, invited me to be a judge, I was ecstatic. There I was a teenager all those years ago, nervous as a help on the same platform. Now I’m going in a totally different capacity,” said Priyanka. The actress is happy she could work her busy shooting schedules around to accommodate this contest, which she considers a very prestigious one.

Back home, too, Priyanka is in a very happy place. Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and she are the top three Bollywood beauties who wield a certain power over the box office. Naturally, the best projects are divided between them. “This was a good year,” said the actress, “and hopefully 2010 will be as good if not better.”

She happily starts the year with Pyaar Impossible in January while also shooting with hotshot Ranbir Kapoor for Sajid Nadiadwala’s Anjaana Anjaani and with Bollywood supremo Shah Rukh Khan for Farhan Akhtar’s Don-2. “Besides these films, I’m scheduled to do a film with my Kaminey director Vishal Bharadwaj,” said the dusky beauty.

The low point of 2009 was when she cried herself to sleep after Ashutosh Gowarikar’s What’s Your Rashee came unstuck at the box office. “When you put blood, sweat and tears into a project and it doesn’t fetch you the kind of box office you hoped for, it hurts,” Priyanka admitted. But she did not rise to the bait when asked what she feels about co-star and ‘ex’ Harman Baweja making his feelings public for her long after they had split. Guess when things are looking up for her the way they are right now, she has every reason to be gracious.

It’s difficult to separate the director-producer and actor in Farhan Akhtar, for he’s forever honing his acting skills, thinking of a marketing strategy to promote his films or of different angles to make his stars look larger than life. But today he’s in a different mood. He keeps aside the Don 2 script he’s been working on and gets talking about his hot costar from Kartik Calling Kartik, Deepika Padukone. “There are no words to describe her beauty, she’s extremely beautiful. Many will identify with me when I fall deeply in love with her in the film. In the hot quotient, she ranks among the top three actresses in Bollywood… need I say more,” he asks.

Farhan feels that the two share a wonderful chemistry but he wanted to be doubly sure so he held a focus screening where he invited people from different age groups to come and watch it. “I called my driver’s children and their friends, college students, housewives… and they felt the same,” he says. Once on the show that he was hosting, Deepika had turned up as his guest, standing tall, towering over him. “In reality, we are of the same height. I actually measured her with a measuring tape,” he laughs and adds, “she’s got long legs, her pose and posture make her look tall… unfortunately, I have neither.”

In all his films, Farhan has always given his actors a “hair-raising” experience, thanks to his wife, hairstylist Audhuna. Aamir had the spiked look in Dil Chahta Hai, Hrithik sported a crew cut in Lakshya while Preity Zinta went bob, Arjun Rampal had to grow his hair and Farhan himself was seen in a hairband in Rock On. And for KCK, Deepika had to chop off her hair. “I have a secret pact with Tirupathi Balaji, I cut their hair and send it there… but for Arjun in Rock On, we made hair extensions from the hair that we had cut during Dil Chahta Hai,” he laughs. “My actors shouldn’t look the same in my film the way they did in some other film. The audience should be able to see the character than the celebrity in them,” says Farhan, who plays a lovable loser in KCK. “I can relate to the character because in the past, I have been one myself. Like the crush I had on this girl but never admitted for the fear of being rejected,” says Farhan, who will be playing a fullfledged romantic hero in the film.

MEENA IYER (BOMBAY TIMES; December 3, 2009)

Farhan Akhtar is smiling to himself as he watches a rough-cut of his next acting assignment Karthik Calling Karthik in the luxury of his own office. The actor says he wanted to release KCK with Deepika Padukone on February 26. “However since there was a slight ambiguity at that point on whether Hrithik Roshan’s Kites would release on the same date, we shifted our release date. Both Duggu and Rakesh Roshan had spoken to me about Kites. If a friend is releasing his film on that date, I would naturally go out of my way to accommodate him.”

Farhan is very fond of Duggu. His sister Zoya Akhtar will start her next flick under Farhan and his friend Ritesh Sidhwani’s banner in April next year; a project which is already creating ripples because of its male line-up. “Zoya’s film will have Hrithik, Abhay Deol and me in the lead,” says Farhan. “But we don’t have a title yet. We’ve run out of English words for titles,” he laughs.

In September Farhan will don the mantle of director for the Bollywood’s Badshah SRK’s Don-2; one of the most anticipated sequels of all time. “Priyanka, SRK, Arjun Rampal and Boman Irani are on board,” he confirms.

Well, now that he is an actor, is he at all tempted to cast himself as Don? “You must be kidding me,” he laughs again. “Only SRK qualifies as Don… He is the biggest and the best.”

Though he has successfully juggled acting and directing, Farhan feels he is no where in the league of past masters like Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt who wore two hats simultaneously and did both jobs remarkably well. “I can either act or direct at a time, so when I’m acting, then I don’t direct,” he says.

What according to him is the most interesting aspect of his having turned actor? “Well I’m a happily married man… so I don’t flirt with my heroines,” he says. “The most interesting aspect of being an actor is that people from all over the world come forward to congratulate me for films like Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya. When I made those films I was terribly media shy; and there were people who didn’t know what I looked like.

Now that they have been re-introduced me as an actor, they come forward to congratulate me for my work as a director. Ironical isn’t it?”

Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s production Crooked is set to go on the floors from January 14 next year. However, the Abhishek Bachchan starrer has no lead actress as Aishwarya, who was supposed to do the film, opted out citing date problems.

Her dates for Crooked were colliding with Vipul Shah’s Action Replay. Since Action Replay is inching towards completion, Aishwarya had to give it priority, leaving her with no choice but to opt out of Crooked, directed by Abhinay Deo. It is a thriller which will be shot at different foreign locales.

Meanwhile, Farhan’s other production directed by Zoya Akhtar featuring Hrithik Roshan, Farhan and Abhay Deol is also stuck as it has no lead actress. The film’s shooting starts from April 5 in Spain. Ritesh says, “We are now looking for a completely new face in Crooked, which actually requires three new girls. We also need a fresh face either from London or New York for Hrithik in Zoya’s film.”

Farhan says, “Hrithik has been a true friend. I start directing Don 2 from September 2010, so Zoya’s film had to be completed before that. Hrithik adjusted his dates accordingly.”

Aditya Chopra to direct his next, a young love story starring Ranbir Kapoor

By Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 20, 2009)

Ranbir Kapoor is the new favourite at Yash Raj Films. Afterstarring in YRF’s Bachna Ae Haseeno and the forthcoming Rocket Singh Salesman of the Year, Ranbir will now star in a film to be directed by Aditya Chopra. The film will go on the floors early next year. Ranbir was best choice for the forthcoming film as Aditya is ready with his new film’s script and his favourite actor and closest friend Shah Rukh Khan has no available dates for the next two years

A source said, “Aditya was keen to direct Dhoom 3 however they didn’t finalise a script that Aditya was keen enough to direct. Even Yashji was scheduled to direct a film after Veer-Zaara but that too did not work out. When Aditya realised that Dhoom 3 is not working out as expected and Shah Rukh is already busy with Don 2 and Farah Khan’s film Happy New Year, he wrote this fresh young love story, which will star Ranbir.”

Aditya Chopra

“There has been a considerable gap between his three films. Aditya made Mohabbatein five years after Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge while Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was made eight years after Mohabbatein. However, he was very sure that after Rab Ne… he wanted to start his next film soon.”

Aditya consciously wrote a young love story for his forthcoming film, just like DDLJ. He was very clear that he wanted his next to be a bubbly love story. Ranbir fits the bill perfectly and the two are good friends. The rest of the details are yet to be finalised.

We sent text messages to Ranbir Kapoor and YRF but they did not reply.

Shooting for Kartik Calling Kartik and hunting for exotic locales for Don 2 is keeping Farhan Akhtar so busy that he is unable to find time to record a song for Blue with AR Rahman.

The song will be filmed on Zayed Khan. Rahman, who is scheduled to return to India from the US next week, has the option of scrapping the song or recording it with a different singer. But the composer is willing to wait as he is keen to work with Farhan. He says, “It’s not just his voice.

It’s the attitude that he extends to his vocals. I thought Farhan sounded terrific in Rock On!!. But the song I have in mind is totally different. I am against talking about something which is uncertain. What if the time factor plays villain? No point in jumping the gun.”

ANOTHER FEATHER IN HIS CAP: Shah Rukh Khan with wife Gauri after being given an honorary doctorate in Arts and Culture from the University of Bedfordshire at a ceremony held at a hotel in London on July 10

… says SRK of his new honour in UK

MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; July 14, 2009)

Ironical, it is. Shah Rukh Khan is now a doctor; but he is also very pained. He has been awarded a doctorate from the Bedfordshire University in UK for his contribution to arts and culture. “The honour brought me a lot of joy,’’ says SRK, who is currently on vacation with Gauri and his children Aryan and Suhana. He laughs when he is addressed as ‘Dr’ and says, “Somehow it makes me feel slightly older when someone calls me Dr Shah Rukh Khan.’’

Describing his time on the podium where he received the honour, he says, “Wearing that square cap with tassels tilted to the left, brought images of the heroes of the 70s; it was an oft-repeated thing in films those days. I didn’t know whether etiquette required me to take Aryan and Suhana along for the convocation ceremony. So I left the children behind.’’ Happily, Gauri was by his side when he received the honour. “I sincerely hope my parents could have watched this… and I hope that it was a proud moment for them wherever they are,’’ the Bollywood Badshah says emotionally.

It is five months since he underwent shoulder surgery, but SRK is still in pain. “I completed a long spell for Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan in San Francisco,’’ he says. “We got lucky because we had long days and could pack in ample work. However, my shoulder still hurts.’’ He recounts how he shot for a song sequence for Dulha Mil Gaya in which he has a guest appearance and strained his operated shoulder. The actor has been in touch with his surgeon in Mumbai and has been reassured that the recurring pain is part of the rehab, so he continues to go about his daily chores with enthusiasm.

“My shoulder makes strange clicking sounds,’’ he says. “However, I’ve been asked to open doors, lift small objects and keep giving it small doses of regular exercise,’’ he adds. The actor who lost a lot of muscle mass because he has been unable to do any active bodybuilding, says his main regret is that Anubhav Sinha’s Ra 1, Farah Khan’s Happy New Year and Farhan Akhtar’s Don-2 will be postponed by three-four months.

“However, there is heavy duty action involved in these films and I can’t attempt that till such time as my shoulder is completely healed,” says SRK enthused by the very thought of being able to participate in the ‘filmi action’ that he so revels in.

And, since he is just not the type to sit around doing nothing, right now Bollywood’s biggest icon is indulging in a game of cricket with his children at Hyde Park in central London. “I also promised the children that I will wear the black cape and square hat and do a repeat of the convocation ceremony for them because they missed the occasion,’’ he says.
meena.iyer@timesgroup.com